Changes
by XpaperplaneX
Summary: Cloud was more accepting of certain changes than Sephiroth ever imagined he would be.


_**Title:**_ Changes  
><em><strong>Author:<strong>_ XpaperplaneX  
><em><strong>Rating:<strong>_ NC-17  
><em><strong>Word Count:<strong>_ ~5500  
><em><strong>Pairing:<strong>_ Sephiroth/Cloud  
><em><strong>Genre:<strong>_ pwp  
><em><strong>Warnings:<strong>_ smut  
><em><strong>Also Contains:<strong>_ tentacles, some bondage, dominance and submission  
><em><strong>Type:<strong>_ one-shot  
><em><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>_ I do not own FFVII and make no money from this work.  
><em><strong>Summary:<strong>_ Cloud was more accepting of certain changes than Sephiroth ever imagined he would be.

A/N: The world needs more tentacle sex. And I didn't fail _all_ the science forever. I'll have you know, I did quite well in physics. And by the end, you'll be all, "What complete and utter science failure? Of _course_ that makes perfect sense, otherwise there wouldn't have been such excellent porn."

XXX

Sephiroth felt stranger than usual as he stumbled out of the lab. What was Hojo doing to him this time? Today's session had taken far longer than they normally did. He was _not_ looking forward to going back tomorrow and hoped desperately for an emergency mission to come up that only he could handle. Nearly two full weeks of daily lab trips had been far too much.

His PHS chimed, and Sephiroth took a quick glance at the caller ID before answering. "Not tonight, Cloud. I'm not feeling well."

"Oh, okay. Do you need anything? I can make you soup or something."

"No, I just need some rest. Thank you, though." It was rather sweet the way Cloud seemed to care about him. Strange... but sweet. He certainly hadn't expected it when Zack introduced him to the trooper. Just a quick fuck to work off some stress. But Cloud had been rather difficult to get rid of, and Sephiroth didn't feel inclined to try very hard to convince him to leave him alone. He was a good lay, after all.

"All right, you can call me if you change your mind."

Sephiroth grunted and hung up the phone. Gaia, he was tired. A hot shower and a bed to pass out in were all he wanted right now.

XXX

There had been no emergency mission, much to his disappointment. Instead, Sephiroth found himself back in the lab and strapped to a chair for some unknown reason with a pencil on a tray in front of him.

"Pick up the pencil," Hojo ordered.

Sephiroth looked at his creepy sperm-donor, then shut his eyes. He could break the restraints, but was fairly sure that wasn't the point of this game. Whatever the point was, however, Sephiroth decided he wasn't playing today.

"Pick up the pencil, Sephiroth."

"And how am I supposed to do that? In case you've forgotten, I'm all tied up."

"Just _think_ about picking up the pencil."

"Are we practicing telekinesis or something? Because if so, I should let you know that I've never been able to get a beer out of the fridge with my mind."

"Do as you're told, boy. You're not leaving this room until you cooperate." Hojo folded his arms and stared at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth stared back until he finally got bored and decided that caving was the best way to get out of there. He was feeling a lot better and wanted to have Cloud over, but a Hojo-induced headache would kill that urge in a hurry.

He lowered his gaze to the table in front of him and thought about picking up the pencil. "What a surprise. Nothing happened."

"Imagine that you're reaching out with your arm."

"I can't. You tied me up."

"That's why you're supposed to _imagine_ it, idiot!"

Sephiroth heaved a sigh and tried again, _imagining_ that he was reaching out to pick up the pencil. His eyes grew wide, and he froze in horror as he saw it. His _hair_ reached out and plucked the pencil off the table.

"The fuck was that!" he shouted, springing to his feet and snapping the useless ties that had held him in place.

"Brilliant, boy, brilliant!" Hojo looked what one might describe as 'gleeful'. "I'm truly a genius!"

"What did you do to me?" Sephiroth grabbed the strand of hair that was still holding the pencil and shook it, making it let go. He could _feel_ it. His hair could _feel_.

"Well, you insist on having all that hair when a shorter cut would be much more practical in battle, so I decided that I would make it useful."

"Useful? You wanted to make my hair _useful?_"

"Yes. A little marlboro DNA in your mako booster, a tweak to the Jenova cells you're getting, designed to target your hair, and there you have it. I'm not sure how strong it will be, but you should be able to twist it and form quite a powerful limb with it. Now, sit back down, and we'll run a few more tests."

This was—this was too much. Tentacle hair was the last fucking straw. Sephiroth bolted from the lab; he went flying past the scientists and guards and ran for the staircase. He didn't stop until he was in his apartment with the door bolted and the couch pushed up against it. There, he collapsed on the floor of his room and shook. _Tentacle hair_.

XXX

Only one person knocked on his door instead of ringing the doorbell. A glance through the peephole confirmed his suspicions: Cloud.

"Cloud, I'm really not feeling well," he said. "I'll call you later."

"Please let me in, Sephiroth. Zack said you haven't come into work at all for the past two days. You haven't answered your phone, either, so I got really worried. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"Do you have enough food? I made some chicken noodle soup, if you want. It's my mom's recipe; she always made it for me when I was sick. It's really good, I promise. And it'll make you feel better."

"Cloud, I'm not—" Shit. He couldn't just turn Cloud away. No one had ever made soup for him before. If he paid attention, he could keep his hair from doing anything. Sure, it _acted_ like it had a mind of its own sometimes, but Sephiroth was pretty sure that he was in complete control of it and it was just the newness that had it constantly touching things. Maybe a small part of it was that he liked the way things felt to it, but he could keep it under control long enough to eat some soup and convince Cloud not to worry.

"Hang on." Sephiroth picked up the couch and put it back where it belonged, not wanting Cloud to hear him moving furniture, then unlocked the door. "Come in."

"Thank you. I know you need to rest, so I won't be a bother." Cloud entered carrying a big pot. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll put this on the stove to heat up."

"Thanks, Cloud." Sephiroth leaned down and kissed the top of Cloud's head. As much as he didn't want Cloud here, he had missed his little blond soldier. He didn't want to have to pretend he was sick; he wanted to pin him to the bed and fuck him senseless. Sephiroth's wandering thoughts snapped back to reality as he caught a tendril of hair sneaking out to touch Cloud's arm. He couldn't let him find out.

Cloud busied himself in the kitchen while Sephiroth waited on the couch, trying desperately not to think about how much he wanted to find out what it would feel like to touch Cloud with his hair. He made do with letting a large chunk of it wrap itself around his arm and stroking it.

It felt weird, but it was so pleasurable at the same time. The first night, he had been so freaked out that he had simply concentrated on not letting it move at all. But by the second night, some of the shock had worn off and he had experimented a little. It was pretty useful for picking things up, and he expected that, with practice, he could learn to use it like he did his hands.

Brushing it was a bit painful—he needed to get a brush with softer bristles—so Sephiroth had attempted to finger comb it instead. He still wasn't sure what he thought about what he had learned from that experiment. Running his fingers through it had felt nice, so he had just kept doing it. After a while, the strands of hair twisted themselves together to form a solid rope, and he found himself getting hard as he stroked it. His hair had seemed to change a bit the more turned on he got. It felt less hair-like and more like, well... a tentacle. And it felt so good. It felt like he had come, though he was still hard afterwards. The real orgasm he had after had been mindblowing.

"It's ready," Cloud called.

Sephiroth shook his hair off his arm and thought of Hojo and mako showers and dead bodies in the battlefield. "Coming."

XXX

The soup was good; Cloud had clearly put a lot of effort into it. It just needed a bit of pepper, and it would be perfect.

Something metallic clattered on the floor and Sephiroth glanced up. Cloud had dropped his spoon and was staring at him with saucer-like eyes. With a feeling of dread growing more intense with every passing millisecond, Sephiroth looked towards the pepper he had been reaching for.

"I can explain," Sephiroth said hastily, physically pulling his hair back and accidentally dragging the pepper with it. He frantically unwrapped the silver strands from the grinder and looked back at Cloud, who was still staring. "It was—"

"Hojo?" Cloud sounded odd and his voice squeaked a little. "He did an experiment on you?"

"Yes," Sephiroth admitted.

"When?"

"The results first showed up three days ago."

"And you—" Cloud cleared his throat, and his voice went back to normal. "And you've been here since then not because you're sick, but because..."

"I don't want people to know. I'm a freak. Even more of one than before."

"No."

"I've got _tentacle hair_, Cloud! It doesn't get more freakish than that!" Sephiroth shoved his chair away from the table and stood up. "You should go. Just, get out."

"I don't want to," Cloud said, standing up as well. "Please don't make me go."

"You can't stay, Cloud. You shouldn't have to deal with something like this." He didn't know what Cloud's angle was, but he didn't need to be pitied.

"Are you in pain because of it?"

"What? No, it doesn't hurt."

"And you're not sick."

"No."

"So, it's not really affecting you negatively."

"I guess not."

"Then, what's to deal with? It doesn't seem so terrible to me. If you don't want other people to find out, you could put it in a ponytail or braid it or something."

"I... I guess—I think a ponytail might be painful, but I could try braiding it why the fuck are you taking this so calmly?"

Cloud shrugged and stepped a bit closer to him. "I dunno. It's kind of cool, don't you think?" He reached out and ran his fingers gently along a strand that was holding onto the back of his chair for some reason. "Your hair _moves_, Sephiroth. On its own."

Sephiroth shuddered slightly at Cloud's touch, but fought not to show it. "You think it's cool?" The strand Cloud had touched let go of the chair and wrapped itself around Cloud's finger instead. He studied the look on Cloud's face carefully. It wasn't disgust or even amusement. Fascination, he supposed, and oddly enough, his expression looked a bit like it did when they watched that porn movie together. Cloud had been turned on and curious about the possibilities.

"If you think it might hurt to put it in a ponytail, that means it can feel, right?"

Sephiroth gulped. "Yeah, it can feel."

"Good?" Cloud ran his free hand down the strand that was wrapped around his finger.

"Good." He reached out tentatively with a few more tendrils of hair. One stroked Cloud's arm while another brushed down the side of his face. His skin felt soft and smooth, and Cloud opened his mouth ever so slightly as he brushed over his lips. He let it linger there and Cloud darted out his tongue, causing Sephiroth to bite back a moan. "You... you want this?"

"Uh-huh." Cloud took another step, closing the distance between them, and reached up to run his hand through the body of his hair. "Very much."

Sephiroth leaned down and pressed his lips to Cloud's, pushing his tongue roughly into his mouth. If Cloud wanted this, then he sure as hell wasn't going to say no. He kissed Cloud hungrily while his hair began to explore the new sensations of another person's body.

He could feel everything. Every hair on Cloud's arm, the goosebumps that rose when Sephiroth began licking and nibbling at his neck, there was an old, nearly faded scar there on his bicep. Cloud moaned softly as Sephiroth moved his hands to the hemline of his shirt and pushed it upwards, giving his hair access to his taut abs. He traced over the developing muscles, making them jerk.

"That tickles," Cloud said.

"Oh, really?" Sephiroth directed a few pieces of hair to Cloud's sides and ran them over his skin with feather-light touches.

Cloud laughed and tried to squirm away. "Really!"

Two large chunks of hair latched on to Cloud's arms before Sephiroth had even thought it. "Don't go."

"You gonna tie me up with that hair?" Cloud asked with a seductive smile.

"Never let you go," Sephiroth murmured. He pulled Cloud back towards him with his hair, then gripped his ass with his hands. Cloud's erection pressed firmly against his thigh, and he let out a groan as he lowered his mouth to Cloud's again.

Cloud's arms were lifted away from his body by the two large sections of hair. He didn't want Cloud touching him. Wanted him to just submit. Those sections wrapped themselves around his arms several times, but the ends were left loose to touch Cloud's hands.

Cloud fought back as best he could, fighting for control of the kiss and wrapping his fingers around the hair that was binding his arms. That was what Sephiroth really liked about Cloud: he would submit, but he never lay there like a cold fish, he just loved having someone else in control. Sephiroth enjoyed having to fight for his dominance. When he finally broke the kiss, they were both gasping for air.

He moved one hand to the buttons of Cloud's shirt, and began slowly undoing them while tendrils of hair wormed their way through the gaps and toyed with Cloud's nipples. The flesh felt strange, and Sephiroth paused in working on the buttons to concentrate on the sensations.

He traced a strand of hair in a small circle over the soft skin of Cloud's areola, feeling out each tiny bump in the skin. Cloud moaned and Sephiroth found himself needing to support his weight as Cloud tilted his head back, exposing his throat. The nipple he was playing with hardened gradually and he managed to wrap the hair around it and squeezed, inciting another, louder moan. He flew through the rest of the buttons; Cloud had been in clothes long enough, and he let go of his arms long enough to pull off his shirt. Sephiroth pulled his own shirt over his head, then quickly wrapped Cloud's arms up again, tying them behind his back.

Cloud gave a startled jerk and twisted around to look behind him. A stray strand of hair was working its way below the waistband of his pants, and Sephiroth's breath hitched as he felt it slide smoothly between the cheeks of Cloud's ass.

"Is it okay?" Sephiroth asked, feeling glad that his hair could multitask, but a little embarrassed that it seemed to just go for whatever thoughts crossed his mind. He was well aware of how lucky he was that Cloud was so accepting of this, and he didn't want to frighten him off by crossing a line.

"It's good," Cloud said a little breathlessly as he trembled and rocked his hips against Sephiroth's thigh. The strand of hair was carefully exploring, moving in small circles around his entrance, and placing just the slightest amount of pressure against it. "Just startled me for a second. It's hard to keep track of things when suddenly there's a whole lot more of you touching me."

Sephiroth nodded and let the strand continue its teasing. "I want to make you lose track, Cloud. I want to pleasure your entire body at once."

Cloud uttered a guttural groan as the strand in his pants pressed a little harder and the two playing with his nipples squeezed at the same time. He tilted his head back and stared straight into Sephiroth's eyes. "Do it."

XXX

Cloud hit the bedspread with a soft whump, feeling grateful that the mattress was soft and cushioned his arms. Sephiroth followed; he landed with his arms on either side of Cloud's head and there wasn't even a moment to catch his breath before Sephiroth's tongue was forcing its way into his mouth. This wasn't kissing; this was an all-out assault on his mouth. Sephiroth was fucking him with his tongue and attacking his lips and tongue with his teeth. Cloud couldn't fight back anymore; Sephiroth's power and the sensations coming from all over his body were too overwhelming.

Sephiroth hadn't left his nipples alone since the moment his shirt came off. Sometimes the hair was gentle, stroking softly and teasingly, then it would pinch and pull to the point of pain. Other strands were touching his chest and tickling his inner thighs, causing him to squirm with need. They were touching all over, but they hadn't even come close to his painful erection yet. He _needed_ to be touched. The tendril that was still playing with his asshole was driving him crazy, too. He wanted to feel it inside him.

Something began poking at the corner of his mouth, and Sephiroth pulled away, eyeing him curiously. He felt a largish section of hair stroking his cheek and brushing gently over his mouth. The very tip of it fell between his slightly parted lips and paused there. He looked up at Sephiroth and then shut his eyes, closing his lips around the hair in answer to the question Sephiroth was asking silently. He sucked gently and slowly ran his tongue over it, then loosened his lips to allow Sephiroth to push it in slightly further. There was a half-strangled noise of pleasure from right above him, and Cloud knew that Sephiroth's face was mere inches away from his, watching intently. Did he look sexy, as he was about to let a hair tentacle fuck his face?

It wasn't like sucking on _hair,_ exactly; it seemed a bit more solid than that, but it wasn't like sucking a cock either. It didn't have the parts he was used to, for one thing, and it was a _lot_ longer. Cloud hoped that Sephiroth remembered that and didn't choke him. It was also narrower, though, which was nice, and Sephiroth seemed to be paying attention to how far he pushed in with each thrust. A little deeper. He could take it a little deeper than that. Cloud relaxed his throat and moved so the tentacle went in slightly farther, bumping against the back of his throat. Sephiroth groaned and followed his lead, pushing in slowly until Cloud gave a tiny shake of his head.

"Good," Sephiroth murmured as he began thrusting again as deeply as Cloud could tolerate. "You're fucking gorgeous."

Cloud hummed, fighting back a grin at the sudden intake of air that he caused, and wiggled his hips in an attempt to get Sephiroth to do something about that as well.

"You're such a slut." Sephiroth roughly pushed his knees apart, and suddenly the hair wasn't teasing his asshole anymore.

Sephiroth still wouldn't touch his cock, though. Instead, he procured some lube out of nowhere—it had probably been lost in the sheets since the last time they fucked—and roughly shoved two fingers into him.

Cloud whimpered around the tentacle, slightly because of the pain, but mostly out of relief. It felt so good to finally have something inside him. Sephiroth's fingers slicked him up and stretched him out, then the hair strand was back, sliding into him and twining around Sephiroth's fingers. His cock twitched as they stimulated him from within. He couldn't concentrate on sucking anymore, but relaxed and just let Sephiroth fuck him with his fingers and his hair.

A sudden, loud groan startled Cloud, and the tentacle in his mouth jerked. Something acidic and foul tasting filled his mouth and Cloud quickly swallowed, wanting it out of there as quickly as possible. It didn't taste like cum, and he hoped it wasn't poisonous.

"Fuck," Sephiroth gasped, pulling the tentacle out of his mouth. It fell limply on his chest with a loud, wet plop.

"Did you come?" Cloud asked, feeling slightly let down. He had thought they were just getting started.

"No. Fuck, it feels like it, though. You okay?"

"Can I have water?" He could still taste the whatever it was that the tentacle had jizzed into his mouth, and it was nasty.

Sephiroth grunted an affirmative and withdrew his fingers from Cloud's ass—the tentacle down there moved in quickly to replace them—and grabbed a bottle of water off the nightstand. Cloud's arms were still tied up and currently crushed underneath him, but Sephiroth unscrewed the top and held it up to his lips, holding his head up with his other hand. He took several large gulps, washing the taste away.

"Thanks." Cloud noticed Sephiroth frown at a new strand of hair that had been creeping up towards his mouth while he was drinking and sighed in relief. He could do another, but not for a few minutes. The hair slithered back down his chest and resumed playing with his nipples.

"Do your arms hurt?" Sephiroth's eyes were glazed over with pleasure as Cloud felt himself getting stretched wider and wider by the tentacle in his ass, but he was still paying attention. He always did.

Cloud paused and thought a moment. They did, now that it had been drawn to his attention. "A little."

The strands around his arms immediately loosened, and Sephiroth lifted him up so he could wiggle his arms free. He bent and straightened them a few times to get the kinks out, then looked up at Sephiroth for instructions.

"Hold the bars. Don't let go. Do you want me to tie you?"

Cloud shook his head. Getting the silk out of the toybox would mean that Sephiroth would have to stop doing whatever he was doing to his ass. The tentacle seemed to be pulsing now, rather than thrusting, a sort of rolling sensation that started at outside and continued on until the thin end of the strand did a little wiggling thing that made him squirm. He didn't want that to stop. So he reached up and clutched tightly to the bars in the headboard, vowing to not let go.

He squirmed—Sephiroth hadn't said he couldn't move at all—and held on tighter when a strand of hair finally ghosted over his aching cock. It stroked him several times, gently at first, then applying a bit more pressure. Cloud fought hard not to come immediately; the silky hair felt so good as it wrapped around him, rolling up and down his length in a wave-like pattern. He gasped loudly and bit his lip—Sephiroth hadn't given him permission to come yet, but it was too much. "Sephiroth, please," he gasped out, "I need—"

His hips bucked, and he let out a yell of frustration as the length of hair at the base of his cock suddenly tightened, cutting off his imminent orgasm.

"You're fine." Sephiroth smiled wickedly at him, and the tentacle in his ass thrust in with a renewed passion.

He could have screamed as the hair continued to tease him, stroking and wiggling and poking into his slit with the end. He had thought he was safe; the cock rings and straps were safely tucked away in the toybox. In his attempt to protest, however, all that came out of his mouth was a set of embarrassing noises. So instead he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on something else. Sephiroth _would_ let him come eventually, and he kept that thought running through his mind.

XXX

Sephiroth gave one final shudder and pulled the tentacle out of Cloud's ass, looking curiously at the liquid that dribbled out after it. He supposed that some sort of secretion made sense, but what was it? He shrugged it off and turned his attention back to Cloud and the new strand of hair that had been creeping steadily towards his open mouth. Cloud's eyes were tightly shut, his knuckles were white as they gripped the bars, and he was panting desperately—none of which was an unfamiliar sight, though it seemed rather more intense than usual. He concentrated a moment on getting the hair around Cloud's cock to stop stimulating him for the time being, though he kept the pressure around the base of it.

"Open your eyes, Cloud. Look at me."

Cloud took several deep, shuddering breaths and forced his eyes open. "I'm okay," he whispered. "Still remember the safe words."

"Good," he replied, reaching out to wipe away some of the sweat from Cloud's face. "Just take a rest for a moment."

Cloud nodded and shut his eyes, forcing his body to relax. After a few minutes, he opened them again. "That one wants some attention, too." Cloud eyed the strand of hair next to his mouth.

"You okay with that?"

Cloud nodded. "It's not as much of a stretch for my jaw."

Sephiroth shook his head in awe; Cloud had been willing to try everything Sephiroth had suggested so far—with some liberal application of his 'slow down' safe word in the beginning—but this was something else entirely. "You're amazing," he said as he leaned down to kiss him. "Ready to go again?"

Cloud nodded again and stretched to reach the strand of hair with his tongue. It had waited patiently while they kissed, but now it moved over to Cloud's mouth with a purpose and pressed itself between his lips. The strand around his cock began stroking again; Cloud groaned loudly, and his hips bucked.

Sephiroth wrapped a strand of hair around Cloud's right leg and tugged, pulling it up into an unnaturally high position, and used his hand to push his other leg further over. Cloud blushed a deep red, but didn't try to close his legs, leaving himself exposed to Sephiroth's lewd gaze. Sephiroth watched for a long time, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. The silver hair against his pale skin looked perfect—much better than the black Sephiroth normally used for tying him up. His lips were stretched wide to accommodate the tentacle thrusting between them. His arms were more relaxed in their grip on the bars than they had been before the break, but there was still tension in them, and it was clearly a struggle to hold on.

And further down... Sephiroth lowered his eyes to Cloud's cock, restrained and dribbling pre-cum continuously, and his hole, still spread open wide, glistening with lube, and waiting to be filled.

With an impatient sort of noise, he pushed Cloud's left leg up towards his chest, wrapping hair around it and pinning it in place. He tugged on the other one to settle it over his shoulder and gripped his thigh before shoving his cock into the heat of Cloud's body.

Cloud cried out, muffled though it was around the hair, but Sephiroth didn't give him a chance to adjust. He pinned Cloud's chest down with his free hand and fucked him mercilessly. He was already on edge and had no intention of trying to make it last any longer, so he let go and simply concentrated on the sensations. The combined feeling of thrusting into Cloud's mouth and ass at the same time was almost too much to bear, but it was too good to stop.

Cloud clenched every time Sephiroth hit his prostate with a well-aimed thrust, tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. "Soon," Sephiroth grunted, trying to be comforting. He got a short nod in return, and felt Cloud move his lips in what appeared to be an attempt to smile.

The tentacle fucking Cloud's face was the first to go; Sephiroth felt the sensations build until they became overwhelming and it shuddered and jerked. As soon as that happened, he loosened the pressure on Cloud's cock and added his hand to the hair that was stroking him.

"Come for me."

Cloud's cock twitched in his hand as he spilled himself, and he cried out in relief as soon as the tentacle was out of his mouth. His muscles contracted rapidly around Sephiroth's cock and he came with a yell. His cock jerked twice more, each time filling Cloud's ass even more, until he felt his cum leaking out around him.

"Fuck," Sephiroth gasped for air and collapsed on top of Cloud, easing himself out. His brain shut down for several minutes until he realized that Cloud hadn't moved at all. He lifted his head and pried Cloud's fingers off the headboard, rubbing them gently. "Okay?" he asked.

"Better 'n okay," Cloud mumbled lazily.

He let Cloud's legs down and rubbed the muscles to get any kinks out. He briefly considered trying to clean him up a bit, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. He would need to take a shower before he slept; Cloud could join him.

"Here, have some more water." Sephiroth held the bottle up for him again, and he gulped it down gratefully.

"Thanks. It tastes pretty nasty. I don't mind, but... you don't think that it's poisonous, do you? Whatever it is that comes out of them?"

"Why?" Sephiroth asked sharply; his post orgasmic calm disappeared in an instant. "Do you feel sick?"

"It's probably all in my head. You know how once you think something, you can't stop thinking it might be true?" Cloud tried to brush it off, but looked pale.

"Do you feel sick?" Sephiroth repeated.

Cloud's eyes fluttered open, and he looked slightly frightened of Sephiroth's tone. "A... a little. Just a bit queasy and dizzy. I'm sure it's nothing."

He bolted across the room and grabbed his emergency bag out of the closet. He hesitated only a moment before taking out a remedy instead of an antidote. The remedy would cure anything; it was better. Moments later, he was back at the bed and propping Cloud's head up with the vial pressed to his lips. "Drink," he ordered.

Cloud opened his mouth; Sephiroth wasn't sure if it was to obey or to protest, but he poured the liquid into his mouth and pushed it shut again.

"Swallow." He felt Cloud's throat move as he swallowed, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. "Good boy." He kissed Cloud's forehead several times. "Good."

"That's gross, too," Cloud said quietly, sounding slightly disgruntled.

"Cloud, you have no idea what a prize you are do you?" Sephiroth asked as he held up the water bottle for him again.

"Eh?"

"I'm not going to risk losing out on you because I accidentally poisoned you. Even if it wasn't poisonous, the remedy won't hurt."

"Yeah, yeah, so they say. You know, if you wanted to reward me for being such a wonderful prize, you could not _not _do that again because you might have poisoned me. If you wanted." Cloud grinned at him with a hopeful expression.

Sephiroth laughed; he really, really didn't want that to be the only time. He'd probably have to tie up his hair to keep it out of things while they fucked if that was the case. "I'll go back to Hojo and let him run some tests. In the meantime," he stretched to reach his emergency bag again without getting up, "I've got this lovely ribbon for you to wear."

"Aww, I'll be so pretty." Cloud picked up the pink ribbon he held out and looked at him skeptically.

"I don't know what it is, so I'm going to be on the safe side. You'll be immune to everything with that. I can tie it around your arm..." Sephiroth paused, "Or your cock if you protest too much."

"No protests!" Cloud laughed. "But aren't these really rare?"

"If it turns out to be regular poison, I'll give you a ring or a pendant instead, whatever you'd prefer. But, Cloud, you made me soup because you thought I was sick—and I know you would have had to bribe someone to get access to the kitchens—and you didn't even bat an eye before letting me fuck you with my hair. You're worth a ribbon."

Cloud blushed a deep scarlet and rolled so his face was pressed against Sephiroth's chest. "I guess that is kind of weird," he said, "But I liked it."

"Yeah," Sephiroth murmured, rolling onto his back and taking Cloud with him, "I think I'll keep you."


End file.
